Sol 6

  1. Can I hope that visiting the worn ruins will heal what ails me?

    That hope has itself worn me away.

  2. Dwellings of the one I love, may clouds water you as my tears do,

    In every state, with heavy, abundant rain.

  3. Shall I greet you, weep over you, or complain of separation

    To you, to the days, or of my wretched state?

  4. Forgive a weeper who addresses what cannot speak

    And hopes for healing from ruined traces.

  5. Time has erased their lines from the parchment of the desert,

    As the hands of decay have worn away the outline of an image.

  6. I stopped there while the white camels carrying our company rushed on,

    Like sandgrouse descending to water in the empty waste.

  7. The tuneful camel driver called to them, and they drew forth

    Their swords of swift and measured travel over their worn bodies.

  8. They sped away like arrows, lean and taut,

    Like dark spear shafts, sworn companions of care and turmoil.

  9. As though they knew no homeland but their saddles

    And had been made only for loading and departure.

  10. I saw only a disheveled, leaning remnant,

    And blackened hearthstones that kindled my burning heart.

  11. And a trench the rains had covered with coarse earth,

    Like a bent forearm beneath worn rags.

  12. And lovers' hearts consumed by it,

    Twisting with thirst like creatures circling lost.

  13. When the doves sang in those dwellings, I saw their remnants

    Dance to the birds' notes like a shimmering mirage.

  14. As though they had never sheltered noble, honored people

    Or hosted visitors morning and evening;

  15. As though no one endowed with virtue and high rank

    Had been generous from the cradle, granting wishes freely;

  16. A dignified noble who possessed every excellence,

    Bright in character, illustrious through uncle and maternal uncle.

  17. His generosity and openhandedness kept him occupied

    Beyond thought of himself and his own breath, without neglect.

  18. Talk of honor and virtue among them

    Was elders' counsel, even children's amulets.

  19. As though no rider had ranged there on every swift horse

    And no bold wanderers had met there.

  20. Nor any fierce, broad-chested warrior whose only armor

    Was a mane above a sleek horse with a trailing tail.

  21. It outstripped contrary winds even when reined in

    And beat the blink of an eye without haste.

  22. Its tread on the earth was lighter than a shadow,

    Its motion quicker than thoughts returning to mind.

  23. When their armor blazed with the heat of their resolve

    And the heat of their wit on a day of charge and terror,

  24. There was no shade there but a tent of rising dust,

    Its supports the tall, supple spears.

  25. A resting place of lions and a course for racing horses,

    A roaming ground for gazelles and a pasture for cubs.

  26. As though it had never been a shelter and refuge

    For familiar gazelles, some unburdened and some heavy with young.

  27. As though I had never obeyed my longing there,

    Nor pleased my loved ones, nor defied those who blamed me.

  28. As though the bright-toothed one had never passed me his cup there,

    His neck and beauty mark clearly visible.

  29. Yet how often he served me while dawn mingled with darkness

    Like embroidery woven through garments.

  30. He mixed the wine for me with his honeyed saliva,

    So the clear drink was intoxicated by his lips before I was.

  31. In his eyes, onlookers found a killer's frown,

    A wronged person's bewilderment, and an assassin's look;

  32. The alarm of one taken by surprise and a sorcerer's dazzle,

    A wine seller's welcome and an archer's commanding presence;

  33. The restraint of ascetics and a rogue's teasing,

    A refuser's concealment and a giver's enticement;

  34. A lover's glance and a chance drowsing,

    A neglectful turning away and a sudden turn toward me.

  35. With a glance he kills or gives life to whomever he wishes

    And at once reveals what hearts conceal.

  36. In every limb of his are cupbearer and strong wine,

    And in every vein of mine a surge of wine's fire.

  37. A singing bird recited a tale of longing

    On a high branch of the swaying myrtle.

  38. Its warbling roused my yearning and my anguish,

    Though I had never forgotten his love or ceased to grieve.

  39. The fever of longing between my ribs seemed

    A tongue of flame creeping through a body.

  40. How fiercely my longing burns, how long my thirst!

    Alas, my burning liver and my wasted body!

  41. The nights struck me with separation and cut

    My heart and limbs with the sword of distance and parting.

  42. If longing destroys me, I will die of regret,

    While love and yearning remain swift killers.

  43. If longing leaves me to grief and wasting,

    I will live downcast, burdened by worry and fear.

  44. Long exile and loneliness are grief enough,

    Along with few helpers and frustrated hopes.

  45. So it is no wonder if my endurance has dwindled

    And my condition has changed after five reversals:

  46. Changing circumstances and the loss of companions,

    Unfulfilled desires and a scarcity of my peers;

  47. Care without limit and eyes without sleep,

    A heart without comfort and a hand without money.

  48. Avoid the intrusive grief, for to a free person it is

    A sorrow that reaches from fancy into reality.

  49. No one is more lost than a person ruined by worry and sorrow:

    A noble person whose poverty has lowered his standing.

  50. Want has altered his finest traits

    And hardship has forced on him a miser's habits.

  51. Though you see me without the adornment of wealth,

    By God's praise, I still possess a life of restraint.

  52. What merit has a free person who submits to humiliation in seeking riches?

    The Lord of creation will provide for him without difficulty.

  53. May I never bend my spear shaft before one who presses me,

    Even if the chains that chafe me cut through my throat.

  54. Though the riches that adorn the base

    Are, in my eyes, all worth the weight of a mere coin,

  55. Tell the fool who trusts in his times and their people

    And ignorantly tries to belittle and humiliate me:

  56. By God's power, he will never achieve it,

    Even if he cuts my limbs with a keen, separating blade.

  57. Seek humiliation from someone other than me; keep your force in reserve.

    For if you confront me, you will find no escape from punishment.

  58. If you ever see me yield to calamities,

    My actions have not, by God, contradicted my words.

  59. That yielding is only submission to fate;

    Can any schemer's device turn destiny aside?

  60. A resentful man lets the spark of his hatred show,

    But my pardon, patience, and forbearance put it out.

  61. I keep my nature pure rather than burden it with filth;

    My soul was not made a mount for deceit.

  62. The fear of humiliation makes me endure hardship when it appears,

    As though, to escape it, I stood between a lion's jaws.

  63. I would cross a vast waste where the winds complain of weariness,

    Where even sandgrouse fear losing their way.

  64. When the blaze of its midday heat rises,

    Living creatures take refuge in the crowns of desert trees.

  65. Its breeze is hotter than that of lands that have turned against

    A free person who sees the rule of the vile there;

  66. It is harder to find a way out of than a miser's palm

    And wider than the hopes of a foolish idler.

  67. Such a place is dearer to my heart as a home than paradise

    If, in paradise, they seek to humiliate people like me.

Sol 6